The action-packed Ghost of Tsushima has many fans enthralled with its storyline and intense gameplay, but players are missing one mechanical element that is typical of most action-adventure games. The game’s Narrative Director revealed why Sucker Punch left this mechanic out of Ghost of Tsushima.

Ghost of Tsushima follows the story of Jin Sakai, a samurai warrior who is on a journey to save the island of Tsushima from the invasion of the Mongol Empire. During this adventure, Jin faces many different opponents as he fights his way to his goal. However, the game doesn’t provide players with a lock-on mechanic, which is typically used to help target individual enemies in fighting scenarios.

Nate Fox, Narrative Director for Ghost of Tsushima, said that the lock-on mechanic was purposefully left out. During research for the game, Ghost of Tsushima’s developers watch many different samurai films to analyze the fighters’ movements and fighting style. Fox said that one thing that he observed while the samurais in these movies fought was that the swordspeople had to quickly change their focus from one enemy to another as they fought through groups of adversaries. Fox said that including the lock-on mechanic in the game would prevent players from focusing on the groups coming at them. Instead, they would be honing in on individual enemies and miss the atmosphere the game was trying to emulate.

Fox also said that adding the lock-on mechanic to the game would ultimately hinder the player’s ability to effectively fight enemies. Since the game mainly focuses on fighting multiple opponents at once, locking-on one person would make it harder to respond to the actions of others. Without the lock-on mechanic, players can move more fluidly between enemies with the grace of a true samurai.

Even though Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t have the lock-on mechanic available for players, getting a broader view of the battle allows fans to experience the fight in a more similar way to a historic samurai.

Ghost of Tsushima is available now on PlayStation 4.

Source: GameSpot